The Book of Acts

Introduction

The late Paul Harvey made a name for himself in radio. During his early years, he worked hard to give a factual and accurate account of the events that he was covering.

In the 1970s, he and his son partnered together on a project that became the hallmark of Harvey’s career. In the morning, Paul would share a story or piece of a news event. In the afternoon or evening, he would return to the airwaves and fill in some gap from that news story or complete some detail. After sharing this new bit of information, Harvey would say, “And now you know the rest of the story.”

Introducing Acts

As we dive into the book of Acts today, we’ll get to see the rest of the story that Luke began to share in his Gospel. Luke, if you remember, authored both of these books and even addressed them to the same audience - a man named Theophilus.

Acts 1:1 ESV

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,

Luke’s Gospel was just the beginning of the movement that Jesus started. This book of Acts chronicles the continuation of that work through His church. While it seems to read like a fast-paced series of events, Acts covers about 30 years of history.

When we looked at Luke’s Gospel, we saw that he sought to show Jesus moving toward Jerusalem - because it was there where his ultimate purpose would clash with the seat of Jewish power.

Here in the book of Acts - Luke reports on the establishment and the expansion of the church from Jerusalem to the surrounding region and beyond.

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

In fact, the book is largely organized around that pattern.

Witness in Jerusalem (Acts 1-7) - In these chapters, the Holy Spirit is given to believers and we see a drastic expansion of the church in Jerusalem as people come to faith in Jesus. People repent from their sin, devote themselves to the teaching of the Word and prayer. The church experiences growing pains and calls a group of people we later know as Deacons to help. There are miracles and persecution and even martyrs. The profound expansion in and around Jerusalem followed by the significant persecution leads the church to expand geographically as some of the believers move to new towns. (Acts 8:1)

This leads us to the next section of the book...

Witness in Judea and Samaria (Acts 8-12) - Spurred by the martyrdom of Stephen, a great persecution broke out in Jerusalem causing the believers to scatter. Philip goes to Samaria and then to southern Judea preaching the good news of Jesus and seeing people respond to the gospel. In these chapters, Saul/Paul converts and begins preaching. More miracles happen and more Gentiles respond to the gospel.

Witness to the End of the Earth (Acts 13-28) - This missionary expansion begins with the church at Antioch being let by the Spirit to commission Paul and Barnabas to go on the first of three missionary journeys. Many of the remaining chapters primarily chronicle Paul’s experiences and perspective on these missionary journeys as Luke was likely a travel companion of Paul through some of these trips. Chapters 22-28 center on Paul’s imprisonment and his multiple year journey toward Rome. (Interestingly - Paul had been burdened to go to Rome, but his method of transportation was through the Roman prison system.)

(Gromacki)

In Luke we saw:

the importance of prayer

the empowering work of the Spirit

the value of all people

Here in the book of Acts, we get to see those same theme’s persisting - but they have a new sense of direction and impact.

The importance of prayer in the life of the church

Just as Luke highlighted the importance of prayer in Jesus life, so too here in Acts, prayer becomes a powerful resource for God’s people.

Gromacki notes that among the several themes that are present in Acts...

New Testament Survey Distinctive Features

Luke also emphasized prayer. Every chapter shows the result of earnest prayer and almost every chapter makes mention of it by name (1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:24; 6:4; 7:60; 8:15; 9:11; 10:2; 11:5; 12:5; 13:3; 14:23; 16:13; 20:36; 21:5; 22:17; 27:35; 28:15).

Let’s consider just a few of these.

The Holy Spirit fell on the disciples after they devoted themselves to prayer following Jesus’ ascension (Acts 1:14ff)

Acts 1:14 ESV

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Jesus had told the disciples to remain in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit would come. So about 120 of them gathered for about ten days to pray. This time of prayer also led them to replace Judas, who had betrayed Jesus and then killed himself, with Matthias as one of the 12.

Prayer was a key practice in response to the great expansion after pentecost.

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

In the early part of Acts 2, the Holy Spirit had fallen on the disciples, causing them to speak in tongues. Peter shared the Gospel and three thousand people responded. These new believers along with the early disciples made up the church in Jerusalem. Prayer became one of the four pillars of the church - along with the teaching of the apostles, fellowship, and eating together.

Some of the disciples carried forward the disciplines of Jewish religious practices as it pertained to prayer (Acts 3:1)

Peter and John had been in the habit of going to the temple to pray. In response to this, a lame man was healed. This then resulted in Peter having an opportunity to share the gospel with people in the temple.

They prayed for boldness in the faces of persecution (Acts. 4:24-31)

You see after Peter and John healed the crippled man and then went on to share the gospel in the temple, the religious leaders were quite annoyed by their teaching and the rapid expansion of the church - now there were about 5000 believers. Peter and John returned to their friends and shared what had happened. They prayed in response:

Acts 4:24–31 ESV

And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Paul/Saul prayed while he was blind before Ananias removed his blindness (Acts 9:11)

Prayer was instrumental in Cornelius’ conversion - as he was regularly praying to God (Acts 10:2). Peter, in another town, had been praying on a housetop when God helped him see that the Gospel was for everyone (Acts 10:9; 11:5).

(Other references: 6:4; 7:60; 8:15; 9:11; 10:2; 11:5; 12:5; 13:3; 14:23; 16:13; 20:36; 21:5; 22:17; 27:35; 28:15)

We could go on and look at all of the ways that prayer became a powerful force in the expansion of the church and the evangelization of the region.

How are we doing when it comes to a focus on prayer? Is prayer vital to our lives?

As you know, we gather on Zoom each Wednesday to pray. We pray for the needs of one another and for the needs of people close to us. I’d love for us to get in the habit of praying big kingdom prayers - for boldness to share the gospel in our community, for God to turn the hearts of our neighbors and friends to the gospel, for the work of missionaries around the world. I am convicted by the bold faith of our early brothers and sisters in Christ. Will you join us in prayer on Wednesday at 7PM?

In addition to the revealing the importance of prayer in the life of the church, the book of Acts also illustrates...

The presence of the Holy Spirit in the expansion of the church

The Holy Spirit is mentioned more times here in Acts than in any other NT book - over 50 times. (Gromacki)

confirmation of salvation - as people would speak in tongues. This became an early sign for the believers, especially as the gospel was preached among the gentiles. (Acts 8:13-17)

direction for missionary work - In Acts 13 - it was the Holy Spirit who led the church to commission Paul and Barnabas as missionaries. The Holy Spirit was the guiding force behind where they would go on their missionary journeys.

Acts 13:4 - to Selucia and Cyprus

Acts 16:6-7 - prevented from going to Asia - directed to Macedonia and on to Athens

perspective and inspiration for unexpected opportunities - Paul’s imprisonment and testifying before the officials.

Acts 20:22–23 ESV

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

Acts 21:4 - some disciples were telling him not to go to Jerusalem.

Acts 21:11 - a man prophecies about Paul’s impending imprisonment.

The Holy Spirit was quite instrumental in directing the disciples where to go as they shared the gospel. But one thing that Luke seems to point out in Acts is that while there was a great deal of positive response to the Gospel - there was also a lot of conflict. The Holy Spirit seemed to lead the disciples into conflict zones:

with the Jewish religious leaders

with the culture at large

even within the church as they worked through growing pains

As someone who is somewhat averse to conflict, I have to remind myself that conflict goes hand in hand with the gospel. We are called to live at peace with others as much as we can (Rom. 12:18; Heb. 12:14). Paul later even urged Timothy to have people pray for governing authorities so that we might live quiet lives (1 Tim. 2:2). Peter urged the believers who had been scattered abroad to be prepared to give the reason for the hope that they have - but to do so with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

But all of this talk of peace and gentleness does not mean their won’t be conflict. Jesus even said...

Matthew 10:34 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Time and again, as the Holy Spirit led the disciples into these various conflicts, there arose opportunities for the gospel to be shared. So many of the speeches in Acts come through these conflicts.

Just as the believers early on prayed for boldness in the face of persecution - so we too need to pray that the Spirit of God would give us boldness to speak, boldness to act, boldness to share - even in the face of conflict. We need to be belligerent - but we can be bold.

The value of one another in the community of the church

Much of Acts chronicles the work of the Apostles and evangelists - in fact - in the early chapters it’s largely Peter and in the later chapters Paul. There is also this great presence of the community:

they shared things with one another so that no one had needs (Acts 4:32-37)

Acts 4:32–37 ESV

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

(story of Jamie Meeker - responding to the burden of the Spirit to share with people who are in need, opportunity to minister to families in the community, being available to one another - borrowing things, sharing expertise, etc.)

the church chose deacons (Acts 6:1-6) - in response to a growing pain in the church, the apostles led the church to call out several people who could serve as deacons.

Acts 6:3 ESV

Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

Here at PBC, we don’t necessarily work in regular cycles - but if you see qualities of a deacon in someone’s life, let me encourage you to speak up - affirm what you see in them -

commissioned missionaries (Acts 13:1-3)

Acts 13:1–3 ESV

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Here we get to see all three of these themes present - the community, the Holy Spirit, and prayer - as they commissioned Barnabas and Saul to begin their missionary journeys.

Closing Thoughts

Acts helps us to see that:

prayer

the Holy Spirit

Community life of the church

were vital parts of the early church. As we seek to be faithful to what God has called us to - they should be vital for us as well.

If you are not yet a follower of Christ, consider what the book of Acts helps us to see - the gospel is for everyone. Jews were the first believers. Samaritans - people on the fringe of Judaism were close behind. The wealthy, poor, crippled, successful, educated and uneducated all have a place in the Kingdom of God - in the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to bring life and hope to everyone. Will you respond to the gospel? In one of his early sermons, Peter called his listeners to:

Acts 3:19–21 ESV

Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

Later, he continued:

Acts 4:12 ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Let’s pray.

Memory verse: Acts 4:12

Benediction

Sources:

Crossway Bibles. The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.

deSilva, David Arthur. An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods and Ministry Formation. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004.

Dever, Mark, The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept, Crossway, Wheaton, 2005.

Gromacki, Robert G. New Testament Survey. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1974.

Osbeck, Kenneth W. Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996.